A DEFENCE OF MR RUSSELL.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 2346, 23 July 1887, Page 2

A DEFENCE OF MR RUSSELL.

TO TUB KPITOU. Sill,—Please permit me to say a few words re election matters now agitating Waikato, and to reply to several letters in your last issue, strongly antagonistic to Mr Russell’s candidature. In the first place several of your correspondents sneer at Mr Russell for his poverty, and Mr Whyte himself has industriously circulated this cry ; but I think it is the old story of pot and kettle with us all. It is well-known that Waikato is bankrupt and mntgaged to one forth more than its value, that the so called wealthy men’s wealth consists of a lot of land that serves them (as far as wealth goes) as a peacock’s tail serves its owner, viz., more for ornament than use. The only chance of making money out of it is by palming it off on some unfortunate stranger, who, after spending his all, turns round and cheats another stranger, to advance Waikato, and this has been the history of Waikato for twenty years. It is high time this sham wealth was exposed, and Mr J. B. Whyte and what he calls representative men, were turned inside out, and give the poor struggling settlers a show. What has Air Whyte done for Waikato (?) He has got several small sums of money for roads, bridges, etc., but lias be ever raised his voice publicly to advocate any reform to benefit the the working class generally ? When every paper in the province was denouncing the railway management did he ever publicy raise his voice in support of hat reform? (Xever.) But said distincty he thought the railways could not

he clie»;«T. n av t ;rn» r»UM'i Ali'i -s.iyri that hi* ui.vl- h:u.-- :: .« foci nwisar.ee t*» <hivcia jv- ':i*i:u r railway n* f uni:. li;t fa-’-: ;i„. .-!• i-t* -j -i ■:

Waikato to joint to jirint I■: :d.-n.-.- ..f ■ assertion; lie in i-l have hid thi- hg-,- i: I a bushel, or nnd- r the 11. n Mi It-}- ,i■' 1 sons ,-oat tail-, while | : , ■ Wellington. We have n-t dug t - --\;"t from .Mr Whyte ; he j. t >-■ mu -h !, and i the land -linking and ;.-ac- i-k f. ,!:n-r i sellers, as I have des-.rila-d. t-- d . *h ■ ~ny i g .oil for tin- true ail .an;:-’nan- ■ f W ~kat--; i I grant he i- g iat nmlii- (-..ddeng r-i uid" | small thing. ; but in -i national m-a'-ur- to i benelit th>-community a-a wl.-.h-. 1,-- is a I mere mouse coni|ured with Mr U-;—j He says I cann .t snjijiort V.nl-'s -ch-ei.e e-om-eiitionslv and I will n.t do p, Does lie think that he cairies the c in-ci-nc- of ! half of Waikato electors ? (N-u 1 whave nothing to expect new from Mr W hyt-a On tin- contrary we have a candidate in Mr W. Un.soll who, in .-j,.te d‘ all the abuse | oured out mum him at tie' Jircsent nioinenf. is nndoubl--iiv a man whose elo.jnence j. ~f m.-an hid-r an i whoso sterling sound sense js apparent in every sent- nce he ntt-r. ; a in in t-i . who without any of these sacred f ns in land .harking and swindles, has gained sympathies of three fourths of the electors -i Waikato, they have had the la-ae- old hj .bav liorse of the j,nst clipp 'd and -mg.- i, ami brushed down again, trott'-d out before tln-.n, and they have heard the same old j.are-t cries but the young bloods have d.-cided that a new body of men shall arise , in | tramelled with none of the unhallowed and pei'nich-us associations of the jc-t around thorn, pledged to go forth to the deliverance of the colony. Jt is with nn haltingstej. they follow Mr Ku.-al!. th- i: new leader. They rcC'-gni-e in him a man nf genius, whose speeches will bring forth results in the House, wh , will not only make himself a name and a power in thHouse, but will represent them individually, so that when he speaks, their own thoughtwill go forth to fashion the measures winch shall open up to us a bright and glorious future. Many old settlers say he is a stranger, and untried, but that does not nescessarily Coiiliimhima knave, in fact, it is evident from their outcry that it is n-t his knavery, but his honesty that is h-ar-d by his ojgionents, and my evjK-ii-ne- i-= that the strangers in the Waikato have far greater cause to distrust the old settlers than the new one... 1 think, when all has been said in regard to the government of the colony by the old members that they have made a poor hand at it, and the quicker they are kicked out of it the better. f am, yours truly. A SEtri.KK ok Waikato foi: Twenty Vkak.-s. Rangiriri, -Inly 20th.